Proposed Bills Affecting Civil Litigation

A flood of bills have been proposed over the past few days to coincide with the start of the General Assembly session (see here for an overview of the upcoming session).

Here is a look at some of the legislation that has already been proposed (in addition to my earlier post on the proposed fee shift in jury trials) that may have an impact on civil practice in Virginia:

-Statute of Limitations: One bill wants to extend the current two-year statute of limitations in drug-related personal injury actions.

- VCPA: Two bills propose changes to the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. One would add selling a product recalled by the CPSC to the list of predicate offenses, while another would clarify issues involving "foreclosure rescues."

- Evidence: A bill has been proposed that would expand the list of inadmissible expressions of sympathy by health-care providers.

- Civil Immunity: Proposed legislation would provide various levels of civil immunity for charitable food donations and distributions, private and charitable groups during a governor-declared emergency, and volunteer officers and directors of a local civic league or community organization.

- Miscellaneous:
-A bill adopting the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act.
- A bill proposing to increase the medical malpractice cap to $2.75 million (UPDATE: this bill will probably be held over until the 2010 session)

More to come as the session progresses.